


Keeping the Bet

by disfanatic10



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Irondad/spiderson - Freeform, Peter gets in over his head, Sickfic, peter is a stubborn boy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:20:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21712888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disfanatic10/pseuds/disfanatic10
Summary: This story is set after my “Peter Sick In Avengers Tower” story. Tony makes Peter a bet that he has to keep out of the Medbay for a week, trying to get Peter to get some self-preservation skills and actually eat/sleep. But, this takes a bad turn when Peter interprets this to mean, “don’t take the medicine that keeps you from having horrible headaches.” But they have a deep heart to heart and then fluff ensues.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 92





	Keeping the Bet

"Kid, I'm going to make you a bet."

"What?" Peter looked up at Tony from where he was sitting on the couch watching Sherlock on his iPad. 

"You heard me. I'm going to make you a bet."

"Alright then, what's the bet?" Peter set the iPad aside and looked at his mentor. He was looking forwards to this. One of the perks of being a Gen Z kid was that he knew how to find loopholes in everything. He couldn't lose.

"I bet that..." Tony rolled the words slowly. He was enjoying this, Peter could tell. "You cannot go an entire week without needing a trip to the Medbay, for anything." 

Peter frowned. That was not what he had been expecting. It didn't matter though, he would prove to Mr. Stark that he could do it. Yes, he was extremely accident prone and had a crappy immune system, but he did have good weeks sometimes. He would just have to be extra careful when he was on patrol. "Fine. But I have a bet for you too." 

Tony raised his eyebrow. "That wasn't the deal."

"It's my deal. Take it or leave it." Peter smirked, knowing Mr. Stark couldn't say no to him. 

"Alright then, mister. What's your deal?" 

"You have to go a week without drinking alcohol."

Tony put a hand on his chest in mock hurt. "Dang, kid, you're setting the bar pretty high." He was smiling though. "However, I think your bar might be even higher, considering your track record. So we're even. You have yourself a deal. Let's shake on it." 

Peter held up his hand, but didn't shake yet. "Hold up, what are the results if I do make the bet?" 

"I'll help you build that robot you've been wanting."

"Wait, the homework robot?! Sweet!"

Tony held up a finger. "But, if you lose..." 

Peter copied his eyebrow raise. "Then what, old man?" 

Tony paused. "Actually, I'm going to keep the consequences to myself." 

"That's not fair!"

"It's perfectly fair. I won't even make you tell me what I get if I win or lose the bet." 

Peter thought it over. "Fine, then, I suppose that's fair. But don't worry, just because you're not telling me, I'm thinking of a really mean consequence for when you lose my bet."

"Well then, I can't wait to see the look on my face when you find out my consequences, because there ain't no way in this universe you're getting through an entire week without getting sick or injured. I don't think that's possible for you."

"Well, I know it's not possible for you to not drink for a week, so there." 

"We'll see, I guess." With that, Tony walked away, clearly signifying he had had the last word. Peter rolled his eyes and stretched. 

"Okay, goodnight Mr. Stark. I'm going to bed now, get a head start on sleeping for the week. See, with this, I'll never get sick." He snarked.

"See how that works out for you," Mr. Stark tossed over his shoulder. 

Peter laughed. This was going to be fun. The friendly banter was already reaching like a level 7, according to the scale he and Ned had made up. Speaking of which, he texted Ned to FaceTime him. Peter told Ned all about the bet. 

Ned grinned. "I bet Mr. Stark's gonna win. Has there been a week this month you haven't missed school or had to be picked up early? I don't think so." 

"Geez, Ned, you're supposed to take my side on this."

"I'm 100% on your side, dude. I'm gonna do everything I can this week to keep you perfectly safe. With Momma Ned around, even you can't get hurt." Peter cracked up at that. 

"Okay, dude, this is gonna be an interesting week. I really do have to go to bed now, though, so goodnight." He signed off and laid down, allowing sleep to claim him. He would win the bet.

Peter woke up with his alarm. He went down the stairs of Avengers Tower and ate several pancakes and sausages. He didn't usually eat anything for breakfast, but he knew that if he didn't eat, he was a lot more likely to overwork himself and get sick. Happy drove him to school, and when he got to Midtown High, he actually checked both ways down the street instead of rushing across like he usually did, relying on his Spidey-senses to warn him if there was a car. He went through the whole day uneventfully, and even that evening, when he went out patrolling, he was careful to not take any unnecessary risks, instead webbing up criminals from far in the air, where he couldn't be reached by guns or anything else. He even went so far as to reenter Stark tower by the front door, instead of just climbing in through the window like normal. He went to bed almost as soon as he got back, only stopping to text Aunt May and see what was happening on her business trip. One day down, only six more to go. 

The next three days went mostly the same, with nothing eventful whatsoever. But then Thursday, he almost lost the bet when he was patrolling and someone launched a beer can off a roof. Peter's Spidey-senses warned him just in time, and he was able to launch a web at it so it didn't smack into his skull and give him a concussion. He did get a tiny bit of beer on him, but as long as he didn't get hit, then everything was fine. Friday, Peter stopped by the the apartment to make sure everything was still good while May was gone, and then he stopped by the deli to get his favorite sandwich. He chatted for a bit, and petted the cat—making sure his claws weren't out, of course. Only one more day to go, and then he would finally have his awesome homework robot. It wasn't for him, he was way too smart to need a robot to help him do his homework, but he did know a lot of people who needed help. Since he was too busy to tutor everyone, the robot would be the next best thing for the public library. 

Peter settled into bed, feeling completely smug. See, Mr. Stark, he could be careful. He wouldn't admit it him, but it had been pretty nice to not have a single Medbay visit this week. Maybe he should be careful more often? Nah, he thought. He was only a teenager once, that was what these years were for. He would try not to be reckless, but he wasn't going to turn into any kind of freaking Captain America or anything. With this in mind, he settled into sleep. 

And... he woke up the next morning with a headache. "Urghhhhh." He moaned angrily into his pillow. Why did God actually hate him? This couldn't have waited one more freaking day? He had been so good this week, eating what he was supposed to, sleeping when he was supposed to, he thought the bet was all but won. But no...

Wait! He didn't think Tony had ever fully reinstated FRIDAY after he had hacked it the last time. His headache wasn't that bad, he would fake his way through it. He put on a cheery smile and grabbed an apple for breakfast. He sent a quick text to his mentor, thankful that Tony spent way too much time in the lab, and also thankful that it wasn't Steve's day to cook. Steve had always been able to see through him way too easily. "Hey Mr. Stark! I slept in a bit, so I'm going to go ahead and swing to school, okay?" He didn't wait for a reply, but instead ran out the door. 

Once in downtown New York, he swung from building to building. He loved it up here, and the fresh air was helping to clear his head. It was probably just drowsiness, not actual sickness. He refused to give into it. 

But once he was in school, the headache only got worse. Peter kept rubbing his temples, willing it to go away. Ned noticed and whispered to him, "See, I told you you wouldn't win the bet."

"Shut up, Ned. I'm gonna fake it, okay. I want that robot." He hissed back. 

Ned gave him a look, but didn't press him further. "Just saying, if it actually is something, make sure you don't ignore it. A bet's not worth hurting yourself even more."

"Whatever." Peter rolled his eyes and went back to trying to focus on the details of the War of 1812 over the pounding behind his eyes. 

Before the end of school, his headache had gotten so bad that Peter could barely walk. He didn't want to ride back to the Tower with Happy, knowing that the man would tell Tony he wasn't feeling well, but he also couldn't swing back, for as soon as he put on the suit, Karen would update Tony with all of his vitals, and the ruse would be over. Peter decided to keep faking. He put on the brightest smile he possibly could and opened the back door of Happy's sedan. "Hey, Happy! Do you want to hear about my Spanish test? Or maybe you want to hear about MJ? She liked my Instagram post today. And then Ned's neighbor got these new puppies, and on Saturday, I'm going over to see them, and— Hey! What are you doing?" He asked as Happy rolled up the tinted glass between them. He kept up the ruse, looking mad and tapping on the glass before flopping back down to the seat. That was exactly what he hoped would happen. Now, Happy wouldn't bother him for the entire ride home, and he wouldn't get ratted out. 

Once in the tower, he quickly escaped to his room, pleading a lot of homework. And he did have a lot of homework. It normally wouldn't have been too bad, but his headache made him dizzy and unfocused. He even found himself having to redo math problems—they were only simple Polynomial factors, he shouldn't be struggling this much. After finishing the entire math problem set, writing his history draft, he started on Spanish. He had to translate a bunch of stupid articles. The first one was about a gorilla-man who stabbed someone with a needle on Halloween? What the hell? He knew he must really be sick then, for surely no one would ever write something like this. He checked the translation again, but got the same result. Ugh, it was too late for this. He rubbed his eyes and spoke. "Hey FRIDAY, what time is it?"

"It is 12:30 am, Mr. Parker, and past your curfew. I am calling Mr. Stark now."

"Nononono, FRIDAY, don't do that!" He stood up from his chair quickly, which set his head spinning. He grabbed the chair to steady himself, and was still standing like that when Mr. Stark came in. 

Peter put on a smile and let go of the chair, clenching his knees tight to try and keep him from falling over. "He-Hey Mr. Stark!" He forced casualness into his tone. 

"Peter, whats up? You need to go to bed. I can tell that look of happiness is faked."

"It's past midnight, so that means I win the bet, don't I?" Peter asked, keeping the nonchalance. 

"Yeah, yeah, sure kid. As long as you go to sleep right now!"

"Okay, Mr. Stark." Peter said feebly, and then he fainted.  
Peter woke up in a room he knew all too well, a room he had been desperately trying to avoid this past week, but had ended up in anyway. Stupid stress headaches. But, Mr. Stark had said he had won the bet, and he was going to hold him to that, even if it wasn't technically true. 

He opened his eyes slowly, trying to accustom himself to the dull white glare of the lights. He moved slowly, trying to work out the kink in his neck. As soon as he moved, he saw Dr. Banner come to the side of his bed. Turning slightly, he saw Mr. Stark sleeping in a chair right next to his bed, leaning against the wall and snoring slightly, obviously having fallen asleep looking after Peter. 

Dr. Banner sat down and placed a hand on his forehead. "How're you feeling, Pete?"

"Okay, I'm still a little dizzy. That headache was one of my worst, wasn't it?"

Bruce looked down on him gently. "Yeah it was, since you didn't take your medication that is supposed to prevent those. Why didn't you?"

At this, Peter felt tears spring to his eyes, and he quickly blinked them back. He was not going to cry in front of Dr. Banner. "Tony made me a bet, that if I could go an entire week without a trip to the Medbay, he would build me a robot. So since I had to come to you to get my medication for that, I couldn't do it." Even as he said it, he knew it sounded stupid. "I'm sorry, Dr. Banner."

"Hey, it's okay. You didn't do anything wrong, it's Tony here that was an idiot." With that, he shoved the billionaire off his chair. Tony woke up instantly, right as he landed on the cold floor. 

"Hey what the hell what that for?" 

The doctor fixed him with a stare. "That... was for telling Peter he had to go a whole week without a Medbay visit, so he didn't take his medication, and then he passed out from a stress headache."

"What, Peter? That's not what I meant! I meant I wanted you to be careful and not get hurt and end up like this in the Medbay! Not that you couldn't come down here to take your meds! Oh, I'm so stupid." Tony put his head in his hands. "Pete, I'm sorry, okay? I did not want this to happen."

"It's okay, Mr. Stark. I was stupid too." Peter said quietly. 

"No, Pete, it was my fault."

"Alright fine, it was completely and utterly your fault, Mr. Stark. Feel better?" Peter quipped. 

Tony raised his eyebrow. "Geez, kid, you never do cut the snark, do you?"

"Nope."

"Of course you don't, you hang around me too much." Tony and Peter both laughed, but then Tony turned serious again. "Listen, I'm going to go ahead and tell you what was my plan if you lost the bet, which you kind of did, since you were sick the last day."

"Hey!" Peter yelled, but Tony held up a hand. 

"I think this way will be better for both of us. I don't need to have any more anxiety attacks because of you, and you need to stop making yourself so sick you pass out. So here's what we're gonna do, okay? Any time you feel sick in the slightest, you need to tell someone. I know you don't like most doctors," he said, anticipating Peter's hesitations, "but you don't mind Bruce and Stephen, do you?"

"They're better than anyone else," Peter admitted. This got him a gentle pat on the back from Bruce. 

"So, I've updated your suit to send your vitals to them if they exceed certain parameters. If anything happens to you and you try to hide it, or lie about it, or try to push through it, they will know, and all three of us will bench you from being Spider-Man for weeks."

"What? That's not fair!" Peter cried. 

"That's only if you don't tell anyone. If you let them know before something happens, the moment you feel even the slightest bit bad, then they can get you help immediately and you will face no additional consequences. This way, everyone can have peace of mind. How does that sound?"

"That's not a terrible idea, I suppose." Peter grudgingly conceded. 

"Okay, good then. Peter, I want you to take care of yourself. Every time anything happens to you, I almost go crazy with worry. So this will help, I hope."

"Yeah, okay. I'll try to tell people from now on, are you happy? I hope so, because now we need to talk about your consequences."

"What? Kid, I kept my bet perfectly."

"Try telling that to the fresh beer stain on your shirt."

"That's old."

"No it isn't. Now you have to sit and watch every Star Wars with me. And that means all the Clone Wars episodes too. And I'm going to sit there and recite every. single. one."

Tony groaned, but there was laughter in his eyes. "Geez kid, you drive a hard bargain. I guess it's only fair, though." 

And then they went upstairs to have a massive Star Wars marathon, complete with ice cream and popcorn.


End file.
